Barry Eustace, who has been teaching in South Korea since 2002 and represents Dublin City University language services there, is staging the first Ireland-only expo aimed at bringing Korean students to Ireland to study English.

The inaugural Choose Ireland Education and Culture expo, which he hopes will become an annual event, will be held on Friday.

Sixteen schools are coming out from Ireland to take part in the event. “The awareness of Ireland isn’t that great, and the reason we are calling it an education and culture expo is to make a bit of awareness. It’s about finding people who have a desire to find a new place to go to study English,” said Eustace.

Among those backing the expo are the Embassy – Ambassador Aingeal O'Donoghue will open the event and host a dinner – as well as the Irish Association of Korea, Asia Matters and Fáilte Ireland.

About 2,500 students from Korea go to Ireland to study every year. The movie Once is popular in South Korea and has been a big help, said Eustace.